The chase is better then the catch.

 

*Only seen it once.*

I don't disagree with any of that, but we've been through all that already. The film is flawed. The removal of the subplots as you've described, P-C, would produce an altogether more enjoyable film. That doesn't mean the film as is isn't awesome in its own way, either.

 

I just felt this thread could use a shot of positivity.

And thank you for providing it.

I agree with your earlier post, highlighting the film's strengths.

Yes the movie had it's flaws, but overall I enjoyed the film, and the special effects were more then just good. It actually looked like there were giant, transforming robots interacting with humans. For me, especially the "Autobots arrive scene", it was like watching my childhood heroes (and later the villains that made them great) come to life.

Combined with, IMO, was excellent story telling by Transformers standards, and we got a fantastic film.

 

A word on the story telling.

Yes, IMO, by TF standards it was excellent, I might even go so far as to say it surpassed Beast Wars in that area.

Beast Wars was a watershed series for Transformers. Essentially it set the stage for the war-torn universe we see in both the DW and IDW comics. BW gave us as close to a view of realistic war as TF (and most cartoon franchises) had come, and the character development was fantastic. Yet through all of that, when I watch the reruns today, I still feel like I'm watching something made for kids. It's like they wanted to make something that appealed to the older crowd, but remembered they had to appeal to kids, and compromised the material and, IMO, it showed.

 

The TF film, however, overcame this. My sister it best after we saw it on opening night.

She said she was amazed because she thought the movie would be a kids flick like TMNT, but what we got was a kids franchise reworked into a wicked action/war flick. That rings true.

I watch this movie, and I don't feel like I'm watching something that was made to appeal to the 5-10 age bracket. They took a kids cartoon and made it a film that teenagers and adults can get into and enjoy. For that, I feel the movie deserves a lot of praise.

 

Yes, I agree, there were problems. IMO if the hacker scenes had been cut in favour of Decepticon character development the film would be perfect. I didn't mind the DoD, or the soldiers. They were fine. The hackers seemed unnecessary though. Still, they had their moments (mostly comical), and overall I was very happy with the movie.

I got to see a film with great storytelling (considering the source material) that focused on life-like renderings of my childhood heroes.

I finally got to see Optimus Prime and Megatron fight in live action. Enough said.

I agree in two ways:

 

Too many subplots, I didn't see a need for the Army, or Hackers. It took too much time and story development that could have been used else where.

 

The robots were great. I think it is a great way for Hasbro to improve on the transformers line. I don't think it is really practical to stick with the old style toys/transformation/style whatever because it is so dated.

 

In general the movie was entertaining, and look at the new oppurtunities for Hasbro, a great way to infuse life into an aging toy/chararcter line.

And that's the problem. The Transformers movie is flawed, but I don't want it to be flawed, but still have to concede that it is flawed.

Well, the question you have to ask yourself: Is it so flawed that you can't handle it and don't like the film, ala PC, or can you love it enough despite its flaws to find yourself entertained and enjoying the time you spend watching the movie, ala Hobbes? There's nothing wrong with admitting you just don't like the movie now that you've seen it.

 

I readily admit to not liking a ton of Transformers media - A/E/C Cartoons, I'm looking at you.

And that's the problem. The Transformers movie is flawed, but I don't want it to be flawed, but still have to concede that it is flawed.

That in itself is flawed logic. No movie is perfect. Evey film is flawed. If you don't like Transformers simply because it's a flawed film, that that means you must not like every single movie ever made.

 

-With the movies we like we can handle the flaws because overall the movie was good.

-With the movies we don't like we can't handle the flaws because we feel they consume the movie.

 

Every single movie we see falls into one of the above categories, though with varying degrees. If you're only willing to like a movie that's flawless, then you're going to be disappointed for a long, long, time.

And that's the problem. The Transformers movie is flawed, but I don't want it to be flawed, but still have to concede that it is flawed.

That in itself is flawed logic. No movie is perfect. Evey film is flawed. If you don't like Transformers simply because it's a flawed film, that that means you must not like every single movie ever made.

 

-With the movies we like we can handle the flaws because overall the movie was good.

-With the movies we don't like we can't handle the flaws because we feel they consume the movie.

 

Every single movie we see falls into one of the above categories, though with varying degrees. If you're only willing to like a movie that's flawless, then you're going to be disappointed for a long, long, time.

 

 

No it's not. There are flaws that one can look past, falws that one can deny, and flaws that, in then end, have to be acknowledged no matter what.

And that's the problem. The Transformers movie is flawed, but I don't want it to be flawed, but still have to concede that it is flawed.

That in itself is flawed logic. No movie is perfect. Evey film is flawed. If you don't like Transformers simply because it's a flawed film, that that means you must not like every single movie ever made.

 

-With the movies we like we can handle the flaws because overall the movie was good.

-With the movies we don't like we can't handle the flaws because we feel they consume the movie.

 

Every single movie we see falls into one of the above categories, though with varying degrees. If you're only willing to like a movie that's flawless, then you're going to be disappointed for a long, long, time.

 

 

No it's not. There are flaws that one can look past, falws that one can deny, and flaws that, in then end, have to be acknowledged no matter what.

Pardon? All I was saying is that every movie has its flaws, no film is flawless. If you like a movie it means you were able to enjoy the film overall despite the flaws. If the flaws are to much then you don't like the movie.

So in regards to Transformers, you either thought the movie was good enough to overcome its flaws, or you thought the flaws were so numerous they ruined the film. One or the other.

Sounds to me, IMO, that you feel the film's flaws were to much. If that's the case, cool. I'm not here to tell anyone what to like, I just feel it would be helpful to the discussion if everyone was honest.

I was wondering if anyone else had been experiencing this...

 

I've been a big defender of the movie and just about everything to do with it ever since I first saw the first robot designs. And I totally loved the movie when I saw it on July 2nd. But the more I think about it, especially in light of what "Transformers" has meant to me over the years, the emptier the movie seems.

 

I would liken it to... the robot designs, actually. You look at one of them from a distance and your immediate impression is "whoa, that's awesome" (unless you thought they sucked). But the closer you get, the more you see holes and empty spaces, until you're left wondering how it all connects together, and even if it does at all, or if it's just smoke and mirrors. They spent all this time and effort trying to create realistic robots-that-transform-from-Earth-vehicles, but the final result is just a bunch of parts.

 

And that's how I feel about the movie now. It has some great parts. But it's held together by virtually nothing at all. And I'm not sure what the point of the whole thing was, to be honest. There's a lot of the movie that I could never see again, and I wouldn't miss it. Which is an odd feeling, because typically my favorite movies are ones that I could watch just about any scene from and think to myself "man, this movie freaking rules."

 

I could just be burned out on it. It's been such an all-consuming thing for Transformers fans for so long. But I also think the shine is starting to wear off the movie, and I'm seeing it less as a Transformers fan and more as just a regular guy. I love the CGI stuff, but at the end of the day it's just effects. And I'm finding myself more nostalgic for the simplicity of the original "Transformers" than I have been in a long time.

 

So anyway, that's all. I was just wondering if I was alone in this.

 

What's funny is that this was my initial reaction to the movie.

 

It was a lot of great Spielbergian moments and awesome looking action, held together by nonsense plot points, and many needless characters.

 

I said that originally on July 5th and got blasted for being "angsty." And to a large degree it stopped me from supporting that view anymore. After reading through this board a bit, it was obvious no matter how strong your arguments, you were gonna get swallowed by the fan boys, who had apparently just seen the second coming, while I was out at the theater hoping for a bit more.

 

Then, I went back several weeks later to see it again, now knowing full well what to expect, and enjoyed it much, much more.

 

Being able to recognize and thusly IGNORE the glaring flaws in the story, script and characters, I appreciated the moments that were good as being great.

 

I will buy the movie, and watch it a bunch. And just like I did when the Matrix came out on DVD, I'll probably skip to the last 30 minutes everytime.

 

I think IF YOU REALLY LOVE TRANSFORMERS watching this movie will be more like getting a fix than anything else. I mean, it is the first and only "LIVE ACTION" TFs we've got, and they did look MAGNIFICENT.

 

 

 

PS - I have AWESOME ideas for a sequel. Have they bought a new script yet?

I hope Mike Nelson makes a RiffTrax for the movie, then I'm sure to buy the DVD.